Select Country

Webroot names Dick Williams president and CEO

Veteran Technology Executive Brings More Than Four Decades of Leadership and Operational Experience

Boulder, CO – August 19, 2009

Webroot, a leading Internet security provider for the consumer, enterprise and SMB markets, today announced the appointment of Dick Williams as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately.

"We are very pleased to bring Dick on board as Webroot’s CEO," said Eric W. Spivey, chairman of the Board of Directors at Webroot. "Dick has consistently delivered innovation and accelerated growth for companies that emerge as leaders in their category. His experience and strong leadership will be a tremendous asset to Webroot as we expand our position in the global consumer and enterprise security markets."

Williams has worked as CEO or chairman of several category defining companies funded by some of the most successful venture capital firms in the world. Most recently Williams was chairman of Hyperic, a leader in open source systems management software for today’s large Web, SaaS and cloud applications and infrastructures. Prior to that, Williams was CEO of Wily Technology, the leader in Web application management, which was acquired by CA (Computer Associates) in 2006. Earlier he was CEO of Illustra Information Technologies, a pioneer of object relational database technology. Dick then co-founded and served as chairman of Quokka Sports, an online immersive sports media company, which completed its initial public offering in 1999.

Williams’ executive leadership experience began at IBM, where he spent 22 years in a variety of sales, marketing, product and business management roles, including vice president for the company’s Data Systems and General Products divisions. He then served as president and CEO of Digital Research, which he turned around and later sold to Novell. At Novell Williams served as executive vice president of sales and support, and general manager of Novell’s Digital Research Systems Group.

"The never-ending proliferation of malware makes it clear we as an industry have yet to solve the problem of cybercrime," said Williams. "This presents a tremendous opportunity for Webroot, given the company’s history as a pioneer in antimalware and an innovator in cloud-based security. I’m excited to join this team of top-notch professionals as we aggressively innovate and distinguish Webroot as a leader in making the Internet a safe place for consumers and businesses everywhere."

Williams is an outside director of Fortify Software, 3VR Security and Chairman of Altor Networks.

About Webroot

Webroot provides intelligent cybersecurity for endpoints that harnesses collective threat intelligence to protect the Internet of Everything. We protect consumers, businesses and technology providers from malware and other cyberattacks using a cloud-based threat intelligence network. Computers, tablets, smartphones and the Internet of Things can be protected by our award-winning suite of SecureAnywhere® products. Webroot protects over 30 million devices and is trusted by market-leading technology companies, including: Cisco, F5 Networks, HP, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, and RSA. Webroot is headquartered in Colorado and operates globally across North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Discover Smarter Cybersecurity at www.Webroot.com and www.BrightCloud.com.